AL QUDS: Israel will ban non-Muslims from a sensitive Al Aqsa mosque on Sunday amid fears Jewish militants could provoke bloodshed aimed at stalling Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza, officials said on Thursday.
Police have tightened security at the site, revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and by Jews as Temple Mount, to keep out Jewish ultra-nationalists who have vowed to hold a rally there on Sunday.
Palestinian militants have vowed renewed violence, which would break a two-month-old ceasefire, if Jewish nationalists enter the compound.
“We have received warnings in recent days over the Temple Mount. We have no concrete information but we must prevent all possibilities,” Israeli Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio.
“The Temple Mount will be closed to visitors (on April 10). Only Muslims will be allowed to enter,” a police spokesman said of the site at the heart of the Middle East conflict. “This is to prevent any confrontations.”—Reuters
Four killed in Cairo blast
CAIRO: A man on a motorbike threw a bomb in the central historic area of Cairo on Thursday, killing four people, including a US national and a Frenchman.
A doctor at a nearby hospital said a man wounded by the bomb died at the hospital. The body of a woman was also transferred to the hospital in an unrecognisable state.
Police sources said a man on a motorcycle throw the bomb at about 5pm local time (1500 GMT) in the busy tourist area of the Egyptian capital.
The bomb went off on one of Cairo’s roads lined with shops catering for tourists. Police sealed off the road and shops were closed.—Reuters
Jewish settlers’ homes to stay
AL QUDS: Israel’s defence ministry said on Thursday Jewish settlers’ homes should not be demolished during a Gaza pullout in July — comments likely to be welcomed by Palestinians who see the area as part of a future state.
The views expressed by Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim will carry weight when cabinet decides the issue next week after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s return from Washington. Sharon has said he himself “would be happy not to raze” the buildings.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has urged Israel not to demolish the houses, as it had done in its 1982 withdrawal from settlements in the Sinai peninsula as part of a peace deal with Egypt, to allow Palestinians to rebuild and recover.
Asked by Army radio what had prompted him to recommend settler homes not be razed, Boim replied: “The emotional issues of many of the residents, as well as environmental concerns and negotiations with the international community..led us to our recommendation to the government.”
—Reuters
‘Sins, wickedness’
LONDON: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, both divorcees and adulterers, will acknowledge their “sins and wickedness” at a religious blessing following their wedding this weekend, British royal officials said on Thursday.
During the blessing by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the couple will join the congregation in reading the strongest act of penitence from the Anglican church’s 1662 Book of Common Prayer, chosen over more modern prayers of penitence for divorcees.
The penitence text, issued by Clarence House, Charles’s London residence, reads: “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.”—AFP
UN reforms
By Our Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has picked four top political leaders to help promote his ideas for reforming the world body before the UN summit in September.
He named as envoys Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, ex-president of Mozambique Joaquin Chissano and former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo, to help advance his reforms.
